On a recent weekend, musical theatre duo Mark & Matthias swung through Tallinn on a lightning tour, with four shows in two days of their original, outrageous show Vegans for Dinner at Heldeke!
I’ll admit, reading the promotional information I wasn’t sure if it’d be my thing – while I love musical theatre and small, ambitious casts, the premise made me uncertain of whether the punchlines would be punching up or down – vegans seem too easy a target for comedy these days. While I can’t say they handled the topics classily, they did deliver as promised on themes of colonisation, inequality, and taboos, making fun of society writ large and our impulses and adaptations in response to a changing world.
The show is set on an island of peaceful vegans whose tranquility is overthrown when one of their finest tries to convert an island of cannibals to the meat-free lifestyle, thus putting a whole community of free-range meat on the cannibals’ radar. While most two-hander theatre productions might see a division of roles and the use of backing tracks, the duo instead went for an entirely live experience, with Matthias on piano with occasional asides or assistance via dolphin, and Mark playing (and singing!) basically the entire dramatis personae – from the first noble missionary to the last sad inheritor of a new society.
Both men wore black bodysuits, with various costumes, accessories, and props coming and going as both on- and slightly-off-stage scene and costume changes took place. (A kind recommendation to any gentlemen hoping to replicate the look: dance belts are a matter of comfort for everyone involved.) Mark made excellent use of the stage space available, embracing movement and physicality to embody characters and create the shape of the world we were visiting.
Musically, Matthias’ stellar piano skills kept the energy high and humourous, ranging from ragtime to ballads to anthems, with lyrics given life by Mark’s impressive vocals. In turns sentimental and bawdy, the show held up a grimly hilarious mirror to modern society as it charted its hero’s journey from ignominious beginning to ignominious end. There may not have much good to say about humanity, but there certainly was plenty to sing about. Despite my initial misgivings, the show was only political in that it used politicised concepts to tell its story, rather than being only one thing or the other – a true mirror, as the world itself is a messy place with no neat endings.
On the whole, Vegans for Dinner was an excellent evening’s entertainment, combining Shakespearean themes, raunchy romance and political drama – a considerable feat of theatre and musicianship that had the audience singing and eating along by the end.
You can find out more about Mark and Matthias on Instagram, and keep an eye out for more shows at the Heldeke! calendar.
Author: Laurie
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